Evangelion APB
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Enter Shinji Ikari, a child billionaire whose degree in engineering makes him one of the brightest young minds of the post-Second Impact world, touched by a personal tragedy that harms one of his friends, and takes on his most daring challenge to save a city-in-progress and its people deprived of any real justice. WARNING: IF YOU'RE HERE FOR A FALSEHOOD BELIEF, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
1. Pilot 1

Creation began on 06-26-17

Creation ended on 07-04-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB

A/N: I was just skimming through the pilot episode and then browsed my random thoughts and got stuck on something entirely new.

Gendo Ikari looked over his son's file for the umpteenth time and found it to be impossible to understand because there was something about the boy that didn't add up. Ever since the failed contact experiment over a decade ago, he left the boy in the care of his maternal aunt and uncle…and then found the boy living with his maternal grandmother about eight months later…and then, through means and reasons currently unknown to NERV, was some sort of child prodigy billionaire with a degree in mechanical engineering. Not only that, but his son owned his own company.

"How is something like this possible, Ikari?" Kozo Fuyutsuki asked the man, just as confused. "He should be just a fourteen-year-old, and he's the head of his own company…and a billionaire? Was this ever part of your scenario?"

Gendo knew that he had to get in contact with his son, but the only number listed in his personal file was the number of the boy's company.

New Genesis Solutions.

-x-

A beautiful view of the world outside his office. That's all the fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari could ask for today, looking at the large garden in front of his company's building, admiring the flowers, trees and water fountains. It was a greater sight than the display cases showing off the old television and vacuum cleaner that he up and one day started tinkering with and got working again. It was those same things that made his aunt and uncle go and drop him off one day at his maternal grandmother's because he decided to show them that the devices they were going to dispose of were working once more.

That one day became two weeks…and then a month…until Shinji realized that he had been abandoned for the second time in his childhood. He wasn't even sure how he was able to get the appliances to resume functionality again; he just tinkered with their pieces and cleaned what was dirty. Then one day, his grandmother gave him a book on computers that would've taken any child his age some time to finish because he didn't know many words; he ended up getting tired of it within four hours…and then showing her how to work her unused computer.

She took him to see a specialist, who, after a long conversation with him, discovered that Shinji possessed a photographic memory and was demonstrating a gift for machines.

" _If you put him in a room with a broken video game console and replacement parts, he would know what to do and get them working again,"_ the specialist explained, and that was exactly what they did to Shinji…along with pairing him with three other children with photographic memory.

But Shinji did something totally different that day with those kids. He turned the broken video game console into a rudimentary computer to access the building's Internet. Until he got bored and asked to do something else. He felt constrained, isolated, rejected, like people only wanted him for what they wanted to see or hear…and threw aside the rest of him.

Until he met three kids two years older than he was that were his intellectual inferiors…and grew on him after a while.

"Hey, Shinji," he heard his company's CFO and military enthusiast otaku, Kensuke Aida, greet him as he stepped into his office. "We got purchases of thirty of the new drones."

"Individually or a large order?" He asked the freckled boy.

"One buyer in New York asked for three, another in Chicago wants eight, and two here bought the rest, totaling more than sixty-and-a-half billion in US currency, including their payloads and additional features," he answered.

The new drone being spoken about was the one that was used in a fire demonstration two days to show how it was capable of putting out fires by using concussive charges and could deal with temperatures up to two-thousand degrees and remain airborne for up to thirty-seven consecutive hours. Just another masterpiece that Shinji helped create to make people's lives easier.

"Great, Kensuke," he told him. "That's…really great."

As the CFO, Kensuke knew that "great" meant "great"…but a friend to Shinji, "great" was just another word that didn't go well with the boy's depression.

"What's bothering you, Shinji?" He asked, wanting to know.

"I got a call yesterday from my aunt," he revealed. "My grandmother died. I was supposed to go see her today. Instead, I'm trying to arrange her funeral affairs because I don't want her buried in that eyesore of a parched expanse of land called a cemetery."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

His grandmother was really the only one that actually didn't cast him aside like his other relatives had done years ago. She was also the only relative that didn't even try to ask him for a handout like his aunt had when he made his first thirty grand by fixing some computers at a small firm and then went into business for himself. He always spent every other day, every other week, every other month seeing her, letting her know that he cared, even when she had to spend her few, remaining years in a nursing home after losing mobility in her right leg, prompting him to start working into the field of cybernetics, wanting to help people get back onto their feet and use their hands again.

"Is there anything we can do for you, Shinji?" Kensuke asked.

"It would be appreciated if you could attend the date to pay respects to her when I get it all straightened out," he suggested.

-x-

"…I can't believe some kid owns his own company," said Misato Katsuragi as she examined the front entrance and lobby of the building. _This place makes NERV HQ feel like a dungeon._

The building was at least seven stories, with five sub-levels, twenty-eight divisions dedicated to things like renewable energy sources, material science, cybernetics, even refining machines as simple as mopeds and complex as cars.

Though, for some reason, to Misato, it seemed that there was no research being done that delved into the field of genetic engineering. At least the holographic maps and guides were helpful, otherwise, she'd be lost just trying to find out where Shinji's office resided.

 _Does he even know about NERV?_ She wondered.

-x-

"…Um, Hikari, could you cancel my remaining appointments for today?" Shinji asked the computer girl that was another older friend of his over the intercom on his phone in his office. "I'll be going out the countryside."

"Yes, sir," he heard her response.

Even though she was still a student before her work hours, Shinji felt that she could've at least ceased with the formalities when talking him, class representative or not. It was one of these things that made him feel like more of a recluse when he was approached by the Japanese military.

As he stepped out of his office, he caught sight of a woman in her late-twenties, with purple hair, a red coat and a dark dress that barely reached down to her knees up the hall from him; this woman clearly didn't know the dress code around here prohibited unconservative clothing.

"Excuse me, but are you Shinji Ikari?" She had asked.

"Who is asking?" He countered with a question of his own.

"Misato Katsuragi of NERV."

"Never heard of NERV…nor do I even want to, ma'am. Yes, I am Shinji, and I'm taking the rest of the day off to take a view of the countryside."

As he turned to leave, the woman followed him.

"Wait, I'm here to take you to see your father in Tokyo-3," she told him.

"I haven't seen him ever since he dumped me…and I'm not interested in seeing him again."

"Don't you know what he does there?"

"Like I said, I don't know a thing about NERV and I don't want to know."

He stepped into an elevator, but the woman continued to follow him.

"You mean, you didn't get a letter from him asking you to go to Tokyo-3?" She questioned.

"I'm rarely at my apartment these days," he explained to her as the elevator quickly descended. "Look, I really don't have the right mindset to be talking about anyone. My grandmother just died yesterday and I need to relax my mind while I plan her memorial."

The elevator stopped and opened up to a garage.

"You have a chauffeur?" She asked.

"Scooter," he revealed, walking down to the parking spaces where various bikes and scooters were, getting on one that was green and orange. "Whatever the reason that man wants to see me, tell him I'm not interested…or as busy as he could claim himself to be. I was already discarded twice by him and his in-laws. I got the hint to know where I'm not wanted."

He started his scooter and rode off.

 _What? Discarded twice?_

-x-

"…According to Captain Katsuragi, the boy is rarely at his home much of the time," Gendo was being informed by Ritsuko Akagi of the current situation with his son. "And he's not under a tolerable mindset because his grandmother passed away a day ago. He neither knows of NERV nor wants to know about NERV. It would seem that…it is personal for him to reject you."

"Irrelevant," Gendo responded. "It is imperative that he be here."

"He said he was discarded by relatives twice and that he got the hint to know where he wasn't wanted."

 _That's just cruel,_ thought Fuyutsuki on this revelation, and was even disgusted to know that the boy's aunt once asked him for money after he became successful.

-x-

The drawback of success…always seemed to be the people he didn't try to think much about trying something on him. But Shinji, despite his interest in tinkering with machines and his relationship with three older teens that kept him from going over the edge between being a complete recluse and a guy that needed to get out more, really wanted nothing to do with these relatives of his that cast him aside. There were rare moments where he thought of just being able to trade all that he had for just one day with more than one relative that actually gave a damn about him, that didn't see him as some sort of problem…or a meal ticket. Yet, all he seemed to have as he rode his moped down the road, viewing the coastline…were an absentee father he didn't want anything to do with after the passing of his mother, an uncaring aunt and uncle that got rid of him just for fixing their old appliances they were going to throw out…and a dead grandmother.

 _There's no remedy for poor family ties,_ he thought, stopping his moped at an observation cliff overlooking the ocean. _What does he want from me after all these years? It couldn't possibly be to ask how I managed to get by or why I'm not living with those people he dumped me with. Probably just another lying cretin trying to play at the Munchausen Syndrome act by pretending to be in distress._

He thought back to a day where he had to write an essay about his life…and had to question the teacher on the morality of people that seemed to lack the attitude to tolerate people just because they did something that was believed to be impossible to do. For his essay, he simply laid out his past and how he ended up where he is now, and how his relatives seemed more negative than positive in terms of who accepted him and who didn't.

" _Shinji, why do you concern yourself with those that don't accept you?"_ He recalled Shizue asking him one day a year ago. _"It was their unwillingness to get to know you that made them unfit to look after you, not anything you might've done."_

Except Shinji couldn't remember what made his father ditch him, only the faintest sense that it was horrible because there were times where he had nightmares he couldn't remember. And he couldn't understand why smart or gifted individuals were shunned by others. After all, it was his grandmother who convinced him to use his skills to benefit people, to share his intellectual results with the world to make it a better place. He owed much of what he had right now to her caring nature; he never hated her as much as he hated the rest of the family…and he was sure it was a hatred that was going to follow him to his grave since he couldn't let go of it.

Still, it took a gracious view of the ocean in a place like this that tempered his disgust.

 _We're still in the trial and error stage on Ruins Salvation Project,_ he thought, picking up a stone and tossing it into the water below. _But someday…someday, maybe we can save the planet instead of harm it like our predecessors did fifteen years ago._

-x-

"…So, basically, he fixed their broken appliances…and they got rid of him because of that?" Misato questioned Ritsuko over the fact that Shinji had been abandoned twice by his relatives.

"That's what everyone says happened," she explained. "There's nothing but bad blood between him and his maternal relations, with the sole exception of his late grandmother, and his aunt once approached him some time after leaving him with her mother…and asked him for money."

"What a bitch."

"Tell me about it. Shinji just told her to leave him alone after that day. Kid goes from having nothing to having wealth in a few years…and he is nowhere near what anyone would deem happy."

"How can he be happy? The only family member that wanted him around is dead and everyone else is either someone that just wants a piece of him or is out to get him."

"Still, his father wants to see him."

"Well, that's going to be a problem because the boy doesn't want anything to do with him or NERV."

"He's hoping he'll come around after coming here."

"And if he doesn't?"

"We'll work around that."

-x-

As he walked down the hall to his apartment door, Shinji sighed as it looked like the new door still held out, unlike the last three doors; three times in the last year, his place had been broken into, but the weirdest thing of it was that despite the appearance of being ransacked, nothing had been stolen, just moved elsewhere around his home. He didn't understand why anyone would break into his place and not take anything; it wasn't like he surrounded himself with fancy things or lived like a king in his little palace. Truth be told, Shinji lived like a common bachelor with the most meager of needs, despite his wealth. Money simply didn't buy him any happiness.

He unlocked the door and walked in, shut it behind him and locked all seven locks.

"Mew," he heard a small noise coming from his kitchen…and saw a small tabby walked out and sat in front of him. "Meow."

"Heh. Hey, Shinyu," Shinji greeted his pet. "Sorry I haven't been around lately."

-x-

"…I think the only way we're going to be able to contact Shinji is by contacting these three kids that he surrounds himself with while at New Genesis Solutions," Ritsuko informed Gendo, showing the company's personnel files on the three teens that were of similar status as the boy. "Hikari Horaki, Kensuke Aida, and Toji Suzuhara. Despite none of them having the same degree of intellect as Shinji, the boy gets along well with them, and each has a share in the company."

"Like a four-person consortium?" Fuyutsuki questioned.

"No, more like he trusts them more than the other people there. The Aida boy acts as the company CFO, Ms. Horaki serves as the head of liaisons when she's not attending school as a class representative…and her boyfriend, Mr. Suzuhara is a protege of Shinji's with a degree in electrical engineering…though some say he's more brawn than brains, but your son tolerates him. How he's able to associate with these three remains a mystery."

"Try contacting the Suzuhara boy first," Gendo ordered her.

-x-

Once more, Shinji was glad Toji invited him over to the Suzuhara household for dinner; it did him better to eat among others as a guest rather than eat alone at his place, even if he did have a cat.

"My sister, I swear," went Toji as they walked down the street after dinner; it wasn't just the fact that the four were good friends, but they all lived in the same building. "She likes it when you come over."

"It's always appreciated by me when any of you invite me over, really," Shinji responded, truly grateful. "I never know for certain what I'd do without any of you."

"Try not to think about it. Besides, you're successful. You're sure to never need to worry about such things right now."

"Yeah, I…" Shinji's response was cut short by the sight of a young girl across the street under a streetlight, illuminated from the darkness around them, dressed in an outfit he didn't recognize, but her pale skin and blue hair made her stand out, all the same.

She seemed to be looking at him, but he couldn't say for sure.

"Shinji?" Toji spoke, and Shinji shook his head before turning to face him. "You zoned out for a second. What happened?"

"I…" He went, looking back at the streetlight, but the girl was gone. "I thought I saw a girl across the street just then."

Toji decided that Shinji needed some more sugar in his diet and dragged him into a nearby store.

"Just like how my old man has every right to get trashed by booze, you deserve to indulge your sweet tooth, man," he told his friend.

Unfortunately, what neither of them expected was the insanity in front of them.

A man, or at least someone that had the physical masculinity of a man, dressed in black with a ski mask covering their face, raising a gun at the shop owner, turned to face them.

"Get down on the ground!" They shouted, clearly a man.

Naturally, Toji reacted by pulling Shinji behind a shelf while his friend took out his phone.

"Come on, pick up," Shinji pleaded for the police to respond.

"Nine-One-One emergency," said a female voice to him.

"Yes, we're in a situation at a convenience store…" He started.

"Please, hold."

"What?! No, no!"

BANG! A gunshot came and the top of the shelf holding several bags of potato chips exploded.

"The money! Now!" The armed criminal shouted at the shop owner.

"Stay on the phone, Shinji," Toji told him, grabbing a glass bottle.

"What are you…" Shinji tried to speak, but Toji had already gone around the aisle and he heard the sound of glass breaking.

"Damn kid!" The man shouted.

BANG, BANG! Two gunshots were heard…and a small thud came after.

"Shit!" The man groaned and ran out of there.

Shinji came from around the aisle and saw Toji, on the ground, a small pool of blood forming beside his body.

"Oh, no, no!" He gasped, running to him, seeing that he was shot twice in the abdomen. "Toji! Toji!"

"Aaaurgh!" Toji groaned. "Call for…call for help…"

"Nine-One-One, state your emergency," the female voice on Shinji's phone uttered.

"Yes, I need am ambulance," he told her, trembling from fear and anger. "We're at a small convenience store. My friend has been shot! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"

To be continued…

A/N: I wouldn't call this a pilot chapter. More like one half of a pilot chapter, with the other half in the works. But at least it gives some insight into what to expect later on. What do you think so far?


	2. Pilot 2

Creation began on 07-04-17

Creation ended on 07-08-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB

The hospital was silent. This was because nobody was saying anything. Nobody dared to say anything until they received an update on the condition of Toji Suzuhara. But despite the silence, Shinji still couldn't stop his hands from shaking until he had a cup of warm tea in them by Hikari, who was there along with Kensuke.

A male doctor came out of the operating room and approached the Suzuhara family.

"The bullets missed his organs," he informed them, "but he's lost a lot of blood. He's going to be here for a few days."

 _At least he isn't dead,_ thought Shinji, sipping his tea as Toji's sister was relieved to know that her big brother was going to pull through.

It took the police nearly forty-eight minutes to show up at the store and another twenty minutes to get to the hospital…and two hours for Toji to be in surgery. The only thing that upset Shinji about all of this…was the lack of punctuality on the part of the police and the fact that he was put on hold by an electronic voice.

"Shinji," went Kensuke to him. "The police need to get your statement now."

He finished his drink and got up on the bench.

-x-

"…At least it wasn't the boy," said Gendo to Fuyutsuki, responding to the information that explained the current situation with his son.

"Except that the lack of response from the police is the fault of NERV," he told him; because NERV was founded by the United Nations, this left other organizations, such as the police and hospitals understaffed and underfunded around Japan and other parts of the world. "It'll be a miracle if the boy lives to see old age because of his injuries."

"Irrelevant, and have the police escort the boy here once they get his statement."

-x-

"…Like I've told you for the seventh time," Shinji told the officer getting his statement. "He ran around the aisle and must've hit the guy with the glass bottle before he was shot twice by him. I never saw him get shot."

Shinji looked around him and saw how the police station looked as though it had seen better days. There were broken printers, old computers, and a lack of personnel. He even heard several complaints from several officers about a lack of warrants, lack of manpower to deal with suspects, even talks of transfers to other police stations or cities, weeks and months of delays and so on. He was beginning to doubt that the police would even find anything that would lead anywhere to catching the guy that shot and almost killed Toji with the way things were going.

"So you're him?" He turned to face a young woman talking to him. "You're Shinji Ikari?"

She must've been around the Katsuragi woman's age…and bore an uncanny resemblance to the woman…with the exception of a small scar under her left eye.

"Miss Katsuragi?" He asked her.

"You must've met my sister, Misato," she responded. "I'm Misao, her elder sister."

"Twins?"

"Yes. I'm the lucky one, unfortunately. She was with our father when Second Impact occurred."

Shinji looked up the published story of how that so-called calamity that ravaged the world, and had nothing but sympathy for those that lost their homes, their families, their friends and had to adapt in a changed world where only the strongest would survive.

"Yes, I'm Shinji Ikari," he answered her earlier question to him. "What's with all the…lacking?"

Misao looked around them and answered, "NERV. The paramilitary agency my sister works for. The UN funds them at the expense of transferring the necessary founding the police and hospitals need to make sure they're prepared for some sort of threat that relates to what happened fifteen years ago."

Slam! The officer that had taken Shinji's statement was bashing his left hand against a faulty printer.

"Well, I see the investigation is off to a start," Shinji sighed.

"Kazuhiro transfers out of here in the next eight weeks," Misao explained. "His last partner got shot when he went to get coffee during a night shift. He's been through four of them. The crime wave got so tense that it made the new recruits back down the second they found out how bad it was."

"And the fact that you have to make do with faulty equipment and lack of warrants and evidence? Pretty poor 'A'-game."

"Yeah, well…when you play ball with little to no equipment and nobody in the stands, you tend to lose your 'A'-game faster than one can lose their virginity."

Shinji looked at her and nodded in agreement with her choice of words to explain the situation (with the sole exception the virginity aspect). It was similar to how one, such as he himself, had to go through life with little to no relatives that actually gave a damn and hardly a place to call home when no one wants you around.

"Still, it's no excuse for what happened last night," she declared. "I'm real sorry for what happened to your friend."

"Thank you."

"Shinji Ikari," said a male officer that was older than Kazuhiro, accompanied by another officer. "We need you to come with us, please."

-x-

"…So he's being escorted by the police to Tokyo-3 right now," said Ritsuko to Gendo.

"Excellent," he responded; he had hoped that his son was smart enough to respect authority figures.

-x-

Tokyo-3, supposedly established to outdo Tokyo-2 and the remnants of the original Tokyo that was slowly being decontaminated and cleared of its wreckage, was not all that impressive to Shinji as he was being escorted to his father. It was just too…soulless. There weren't any trees, scrubs, a lot of power lines and solar panels on the buildings and rooftops, etc. He couldn't imagine himself living here, even if he admired some of the technology present.

Suddenly, he felt the police car stop after driving into a dark place…and then lower into the ground.

 _I don't like enclosed spaces,_ he thought.

Flash! Bright light illuminated the outside of the car…and Shinji saw a rather-large secret that was likely the only thing that made this city stand out from other cities in the nation.

It was a Geo-Front, similar to the theories and examples of thriving underground in available space or when space became hard to obtain above ground, and below them, away from an expanse of wilderness and an artificial lake…was a metallic pyramid with the logo for NERV painted on.

 _NERV,_ Shinji realized, suspecting that his old man was the type of person that simply refused to take a declining response from anyone he targeted.

-x-

"…Hello again," went Misato to Shinji, hoping to ease the tension he was probably feeling right now. "How are you doing?"

"Disgusted," he responded, "and infuriated. What do you want?"

"Okay," she accepted; they had clearly crossed a subtle line by bringing the billionaire boy down here against his will. "This way, please."

Shinji followed her, not that he had a choice in the matter right now, wanting to get to the point of why his father wanted to see him…just so he could share his peace and then take a hike back to his home.

"You…don't talk much, do you?" Misato asked him.

"Is there anything to talk about here that doesn't relate to business or what have you?" He questioned.

"You're not big on what other agencies do, are you?"

"I didn't even want to come here. You people are either too stubborn…or too stupid to accept that 'no' means 'no'."

"For your information, we're in the business of defending mankind from facing extinction."

"And that justifies the negative effects you have on Japan? What good is defending mankind…when the crime rate is high and the mortality rate is equally high?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Maybe I've said enough and you should talk to your sister."

The door in front of them opened and draft swept past them.

Misato would've said something about how these drafts made it terrible for her to wear skirts, but instead of saying, she looked at Shinji like he'd crossed a personal line with her.

"You…you've met Misao?" She demanded.

Shinji simply turned his gaze away from her.

"You should watch where you're going," he told her.

"Yes, you should," they both heard a woman say to Misato. "You nearly walked into me."

"Sorry, Rits," she apologized to the faux-blond in the lab coat. "Not a particularly interesting conversation took place."

The faux-blond looked at Shinji and questioned, "Is he the boy?"

"Uh, yes. According to the Marduk Institute, he's the Third Child."

"Wow, a billionaire child that everyone has been talking about. Nice to meet you."

Ritsuko held out her right hand, but Shinji didn't do anything.

"Can we hurry up and see why the old man wanted me here so I can go, please?" He asked her instead.

"Uh, right," she responded.

-x-

Toji groaned as he awoke from what felt like a heavy nap, finding himself in a small room with a stale smell. His memory was hazy, but he recalled telling Shinji to stay on his phone as he tried to call the police while he tried to stop a guy trying to rob a store.

"Toji, you're up!" He heard Hikari expressed, and he saw her sitting beside his bed.

"Big brother!" Sakura cheered.

"How do you feel?" His father asked him.

"Wasted."

"Well, you did get shot twice," said his mother to him. "I doubt the police will ever find the guy that did this to you."

"But…Shinji was able to get hold of the police in time, right?" Toji asked.

"He got in contact, but…they took so long to get to you," Hikari explained.

That's when Toji noticed that Shinji wasn't around; he didn't expect Kensuke to be present, as he usually had other things to do, but Shinji not being around was a little depressing.

"Where is Shinji?" He asked Hikari.

"He had to go give his statement to the police…but he hasn't come back yet," she explained to him. "It shouldn't take so long to give a statement."

"Unless, of course, Shinji has other things obligating him from making it back here," Toji realized, which seemed likely, since they knew Shinji well enough to know that he hardly ever got sidetracked.

"What is obligating?" Sakura asked.

"That's a negative way of saying…people have to do things they'd rather not do at all," Hikari explained to the little girl.

"Like…him not wanting to see his father or other relatives because they hurt him?"

Everyone in the room was quiet then. This was something else Toji, Hikari and Kensuke knew best about Shinji; the guy and his relatives, with the exception of his deceased grandmother, just didn't go together. Building relationships, even trying to renew and mend them, was just not going to happen with the Ikari family.

"That's right, Ms. Suzuhara," they heard Kensuke say to them, appearing by the door to the room, holding a tray with a bowl. "That's something that would obligate him to no end."

-x-

Shinji hated his father's office. In his total honesty, he hated it. It looked like a dungeon with inscriptions on the floor and ceiling, with just a desk as its only furniture. There was too much black and red and not enough light.

And then, there was his father, who, despite the fact that he was older than he was from his crippled memory, looked just as cold as he had been the day he up and ditched him.

"It's been a long time," said Gendo to him in front of Fuyutsuki, Misato and Ritsuko.

"What the Hell do you want?" Shinji decided to say back to him. "I'm pretty sure that just like you, I have more important things that require my attention than you do not. So get to the point."

 _Straight to business,_ thought Ritsuko, wondering how different this boy was from what they had originally expected him to be.

"I have need of you," Gendo told him. "In a matter of two months from now, we're to be facing a threat of biblical proportions, and we need people of your age to deal with the situation."

"Oh, really? And that's the only reason? That's the only reason you stressed out that I come here, to a soulless city, to an equally-soulless, underground facility, just to see you?" Shinji asked, sounding like he was completely uninterested in what was going on with NERV.

"That's right," his father answered him.

"Kiss my ass, old man," Shinji responded coldly, turning around and walking away.

"Hold on!" Misato up and blocked him from leaving the office. "He just told you that we're facing a threat to mankind…and you're just going to walk away?"

"That's right," he answered her, "and I have every right to walk away if I choose not to get involved…and I don't want to be involved in this matter that is your problem, NERV's problem, not my problem. Free will and choice change everything."

He walked around her.

"Cowards are always useless when the future of the world is at stake," they heard Gendo say.

"Oh, I'm a coward now?" Shinji asked him, looking at him. "You know something? If you think I'm a coward, then that's your choice to think that. I really don't care. You're no better than the people you left me with when you up and did what you did. Do you honestly think I would just jump for you when you call, like some good, little boy? I never knew how to say what I meant to say to you to express my hurt from your actions, but now I know exactly what to say to someone like you. You…disgust and infuriate me…and you are truly clueless about people…and we're done here."

He vacated the office, leaving the four adults surprised by the boy's response to what they were facing.

"Wow," went Ritsuko, looking at Gendo, "he's really personal. It's no wonder he's able to run his own business the way he does. Shall we reconfigure for Rei?"

"No," Gendo told her. "He'll return."

"How can you be so certain of that?" Fuyutsuki asked him. "He seems determined to walk away from this, regardless of what our situation is."

"He'll have no choice but to accept that we need him."

Unfortunately, Misato, who had gone after Shinji when he left the office, so she had no idea of what had been said between the three of them.

-x-

"…So, you have no shame over what we're facing at all, Shinji?" Misato asked Shinji as she followed him down the hall as he navigated his way out of the building. "Are you really going to walk away from this?"

"If you're trying to guilt-trip me into reconsidering my decision, give it up, Ms. Katsuragi," Shinji told her. "I've said all that I've had to say to that man, that failure. There's nothing left to say…so there's nothing left to discuss. If this is why you came to see me, you were better off not disturbing the subtle peace that I had from not seeing poor relatives."

"He's actually very well-off."

"Not that type of 'poor'. Disgraceful, awful, neglectful, unforgivable. I won't deny my flaws. I have issues when it comes to family and other agencies…that are deep…and even severe. My family, in particular. I only had my grandmother as my support when everyone else cast me aside, so I don't really have much of a past to be proud of when it comes to the majority of relatives. Last night, I had my eyes open to nearly losing one of my friends because of a guy that decided to try and rob a convenience store, and part of the reason for why it happened…and why the police took so long to get there. I…I have something I have to do now that is a consequence of that night."

"What are you talking about?"

"Watch the news. It might be epic, it might not be, but I gotta try my hand in doing something I feel is right instead of you think I should do."

As he vacated the building, he realized that he had no means of transportation to get back home. But it was just another problem he had to resolve with careful logic and available resources. He took out his cell phone and dialed Kensuke's number, grateful that the cell reception was still strong, even after being more than half a mile underground.

"Shinji?" He heard his otaku friend speak to him.

"Hey, Kensuke, I need a favor."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I need a taxi leading out of Tokyo-3…and I need Hikari to setup a meeting."

"Okay, but what is the meeting about?"

"Law Enforcement and Healthcare Technology."

"That's something new."

"That's what I'm hoping for."

-x-

"…Did that boy say something to you that rattled you?" Ritsuko asked Misato, later that day.

"I think he met with my sister," Misato stated, sitting in front of her unopened beer can.

"Misao? Didn't she go and get divorced because of her husband and his political career?"

"That was two years ago."

"You said she had daughter, right?"

"Yeah, Momo. I'm curious about whatever she told him. We haven't gotten along since college."

"You two are as different as twins are said to be. Your own mother even said so."

"She became a police officer, I joined the military. It's not like we both made poor choices. We both just chose what we felt was the right thing to do at the time."

"She just wanted to serve people in her neighborhood, not seeing past the country or the world."

"But we have different views on who made the more-honorable choice between the both of us."

-x-

"…Toji, you shouldn't be out of the hospital so soon," said Hikari to her boyfriend, seeing him walking through the halls of New Genesis Solutions on a crutch, three days later.

"Honestly, Hikari, I'd rather be here and at home than at the hospital," Toji told her. "Besides, I won't be doing anything strenuous for a while. Just pushing recharged tablets around."

They heard a door slide open and saw several men and women in suits walk out, speaking things as they walked away, followed by Shinji, who seemed relieved about something.

"Do you think Shinji can do something like this?" Toji asked Hikari.

"All I know is that Kensuke is taking an additional position as CTO, I'm still helping Shinji with his grandmother's funeral arrangements because I offered to, and he's very committed to this new venture after our parents told him everything they knew about before that night."

"I didn't think he'd be inspired to do something of this sort because of what he saw."

"That's our Shinji for you. He's the only one we know that is willing to try something of this sort."

Shinji looked at him and gave them a small wave from his right hand.

-x-

"…What do you mean, it's mandatory?" Gendo questioned Fuyutsuki, who informed him about an upcoming meeting with the city officials and politicians on the new suggestions and propositions for select cities. "It's just another meeting."

"Your son is going to be attending this one," Fuyutsuki explained. "There was even talk about him having a proposition for the salvaged city of Tokyo."

"Like what, a new particle accelerator?"

"No, but his company has started investing heavily in medical technological advancement, among other things that started a few days ago. We both have to attend, regardless of whether or not we feel like going to it."

-x-

Despite the expanse of land as a result of tearing down the damaged buildings and clearing the debris, Tokyo, once a thriving metropolis, was looking more like an adapting city that had been cleared of its radiation remnants and was deemed habitable once more. In fact, it had been habitable for the past seven years, with a population of at least half of the city's original population. The capital, which had been relocated to Tokyo-2 ever since the devastation, had even moved back to its original location.

"…We can probably expect to build at least ten of these buildings within the next two years," one of the men at the meeting with the city officials, informing them of the construction of new buildings to house civilians; this was a project that most other companies wanted to get in on to improve city living.

"Thank you, Mr. Roku," the head official responded, approving the project. "Next, we have… Oh, we have somewhat of a celebrity with us today. Mister Shinji Ikari of New Genesis Solutions, who has a proposition of his own to share. Oh, and his father, Gendo Ikari of NERV, is here, as well."

Shinji, who was with Kensuke at the meeting, got up from his seat and approached the podium, ignoring the fact that his father was here.

"Also, I heard your protege got out of the hospital after his shooting at the convenience store. I just want to express…" The man uttered, but Shinji cut him off.

"You want to express your hopes for his speedy recovery," he uttered. "I've heard it many times. I've even had people that knew my grandmother express their condolences over her passing. But there is one thing I've not heard: What effort is being made to find the perpetrator that shot Toji Suzuhara…or the ones that broke into people's homes…or the ones that attacked women walking home in the dead of night…or any crime that was committed weeks, months, years ago."

Several voices murmured over these facts that were brought to their attention by Shinji, while Gendo and Fuyutsuki were curious to what he was getting at.

"I can understand that the world isn't perfect. I can understand that a lot of devastation happened as a result of Second Impact, but ever since one of my best friends was almost killed trying to stop someone that went beyond the rule of law, the Tokyo PD has been too busy laying off cops to even mount any investigation into why the store was hit to begin with. They have no suspects, no leads, no clues, witnesses…or manpower to find any."

"Um, if you're having some difficulty with our local Law Enforcement, Mr. Ikari, there are avenues you can take," the man informed Shinji.

"Yes, and I've been exploring those avenues," the boy explained, "even the expressways…and do you know where they all led? Right into the bureaucratically-disappointing black hole that was the United Nations and Japanese Government's decision to fund the paramilitary agency that is NERV…at the expense of other organizations that do good work."

The murmuring voices of several people got louder as some found disappointment in this fact while others had to question what was so important about the paramilitary agency that they would get so much funding at the expense of disregarding other agencies that had to make do with limited resources.

"Sorry you didn't get the proper response, Mr. Ikari," the head official apologized.

"Please, I…I don't want apologies, sir," Shinji responded, calming down, "but I do want to share my proposition. Give me the Tokyo Police Department to run."

Gasp! Many of the people in the large room reacted to Shinji's proposition to the committee board.

 _I could've said that I wanted justice for people like Toji, who showed me how to ride a skateboard when I was eight when I asked him how he balanced on his, who helped me break into the records room to check Hikari's test scores because he feared she was failing at her evaluations_ _…_ _and who was the only one of us that tried to stop somebody while I was too stupid to do something other than using the damn cell phone. I could've said anything of the sort._ He thought, but it wasn't the only reason he wanted to do this at all.

"Uh, excuse me?" A female official asked. "You want to run the police?"

"That's right, ma'am," he answered. "You see, even though the city's overburdened with the reconstruction program, there still exists its budget problem. You still have a two-hundred-fifty-eight-million unfunded pension obligation to the city's police department…and I can help with that. I will personally fill that budget hole out of my own bank account, and upgrade the Tokyo PD to the best technology available…or can be built because, let's be honest, people want the latest doohickeys."

"Is he serious?" A woman asked Kensuke.

"I've never known Shinji to joke like this before," the otaku responded. "He never jokes about something as serious as what he's proposing right now."

"And y'all can actually do this?" A man asked him.

"We double-checked everything and rechecked. We can do this. Shinji just needs their permission to do this. That's why he's here."

"You'd probably never get this sort of thing from NERV," the woman expressed.

"Mister Ikari," a second male official chuckled, "a civilian, even a private civilian, such as yourself, can't take over a police department or even a district…"

"Actually, with a special appointment from this committee, they can," Shinji explained; he had done his homework thoroughly with the help of his friends and their parents. "And here's the rest of my proposal: You turn me down, and I will finance all your opponents in the next election. And you can explain to the taxpayers why you turned down almost three-hundred-million in free money. And when you lose, I will present the same proposition to the next mayor and committee."

"This is completely irrelevant," said Gendo, wishing he could just leave.

"Hey, shut up, man," someone in front of him responded. "Your son's offering to help the police force, and you can't even praise him? Kami, what a disappointment you are."

Fuyutsuki simply remained quiet and waited for the meeting to end. Truth be told, he actually wanted to see how well Shinji could pull this all off. The boy had the money and the company that could provide the technological advances the police could use…and from what he had heard in the way of rumors, the boy had already begun supplying several hospitals with new machines.

"Well," the mayor chuckles, "proposals take time to be considered."

"Yes, of course. How's the next thirty minutes? Because, you see, I called some reporters before we came in today. I told them to come at six. I don't want to be rude." Shinji revealed.

"Oh, Kami," Fuyutsuki expressed.

"This time, Shinji promised not to be camera-shy," went Kensuke.

Reporters were on their way over…and the committee only had thirty minutes to decide on whether or not to accept this proposal or reject it. If they did, it would mean less trouble financially, but it would also mean they'd be entrusting the entire police force to a fourteen-year-old kid with a company worth billions. If they rejected, then they'd be at the mercy of the next election and would have to deal with people questioning why they turned down an offer of this sort when it could've helped them.

-x-

Ping! Toji's tablet received a message from Kensuke's phone.

He tapped it, and the message instructed him to use his FaceTime.

"Hey, Hikari?" He called over to his girlfriend at her desk. "Class Rep.?"

"Coming," the pig-tailed girl responded, sliding her chair over to meet him as he turned on his tablet's FaceTime app. "What the…"

"There's been a lot of revolutions in many industries," they heard Shinji's voice as they saw him in front of some cameras and reporters. "Making computers smaller and more efficient, making phones with touchscreens and flatter batteries, even cars that have self-driving capabilities. Why not give the police a change?"

"Shinji Ikari, if this all goes well, will you be intending to expand on other police departments in the country?" A woman asked him.

This indicated to Toji and Hikari that Shinji won his proposal to gain control of the Tokyo PD.

"Well, it is similar to a pilot program, right?" Shinji explained. "If you succeed in one place, the rest are sure to follow, right? It's trial and error to find out what works and go on from then."

Behind Shinji, they saw several men and women walking by, among them being his own father, who seemed be being hassled by several with questions.

"Shinji Ikari, some would say that you've been accused of grandstanding," a man told Shinji. "What do you say to those that might think that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt to boost your company's popularity? Or your own?"

"I would say that I feel guilt about what happened to Toji Suzuhara getting shot at while I tried to call for help, and I want to find the guy responsible for that…and wanting people to feel safer," he answered him. "You can call it a publicity stunt if you want to, but I prefer to call it doing something different…and benevolent for others. What do you say to that?"

"I'd say," went Toji, "that you're a good man, Shinji Ikari. A very good man. Thank you."

"He actually did it," added Hikari, proud of Shinji's success. "Now the real work begins."

To be continued…

A/N: Here's the other half of the pilot chapter. The next chapter will be where the real work takes place and will include in some way a mention of a funeral and so on. Peace out, yo.


	3. Welcome

Creation began on 07-08-17

Creation ended on 07-18-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Welcome

Two days had passed since Shinji assumed control of the Tokyo PD, and it was only the first day of the new change that was to come when Misato Katsuragi decided to pay her family a visit.

"You're taking this quite well," she addressed her elder twin, Misao, who seemed unfazed by the outcome of the last meeting that resulted in a fourteen-year-old being in charge of the police force. "Still, today's the day. My boss calls it Arma-Shinji as a twisted joke."

"And my ex-husband told me that the mayor was going to facilitate transfers to other police stations in other cities if the police felt like they were placed in harm's way because of young Ikari," Misao responded, "but I don't intend to walk away from here, even if there are those that feel he has no clue as to what he's doing. I've spent the last five years with the same beat."

"It's not you walking away that I worry about, sis. It's who you'll pretty much be working for trying to make your decisions for you. You know, he was supposed to be at NERV, but he hates his old man enough to want nothing to do with what we're up against, and now this."

"If things get too tough for him to handle, it'll likely blow over. Reformers come and go. And for the record, why would any teen want to work at NERV, anyway? I don't even want Momo there, and she's not a teenager yet."

Misato looked around Misao and at their mother, Yuki, who sat on the steps in the hallway with a little girl of five years of age who was holding a large, pink ball with a cat face; all the women in her family had purple hair.

"I still think I'm doing the right thing," she told her sister.

"We both think we're doing the right thing," Misao responded, "even if we don't agree with each other's decisions."

Misato bowed her head and said her goodbyes until her next visit.

Misao looked at her mother and daughter, who looked at her like she and her sister were still bitter towards each other.

"Grandfather echoes," said her daughter to her.

"Don't start, you two," she told them as they walked up the stairs to their apartment.

"I didn't say anything, Misao," Yuki responded in defense. "Still, you two…"

"Mommy…" Misao sighed, wanting to forget about the whole thing and just get ready for work.

-x-

The Tokyo PD Headquarters had never seen such a renovation with such technology improvements. And it was still being set up by the people from New Genesis Solutions.

"You believe this?" Misao heard her friend, Motoko, ask her as they saw dozens of crates being moved around the place. "My brother spent three tours at sea, and even I've never seen so much stuff everywhere. It's gotta be worth at least a few million being scattered around us."

"Uh, Genki, what's going on?" Misao asked her superior, a man in his early-fifties.

"You tell me," he responded. "They've been here all weekend, bringing in new equipment. They… Uh, excuse me, what are you doing with my printer?"

Hikari Horaki, who was assisting in the renovation, was unhooking an old printer and setting up the new one, looked at the adult.

"It was obsolete before I was born, sir," she told him.

"But I still know how to use it," he explained.

"Don't worry, we're not throwing anything out."

Seeing that it was pointless to try and argue with the girl, the police superior gave up and pointed out something else that New Genesis Solutions brought in: A trio of coffee machines with three flavor selections to choose from.

"We have a trio of new coffee machines, too," he sighed. "Just one of these costs more than a Ferrari. All three cost more than my apartment."

"Okay, listen up, everyone!" Another man went, getting their attention. "Roll call in five minutes! Stare at everything you haven't seen later!"

Nearly five minutes later, most of the police were present in the large room where several new screens had been installed and were up and running.

"Okay, I know we've all noticed some big changes in the station," the same man from earlier, whose identification badge read, _'Fuma Jakoto'_ , spoke to them. "I'm just asking everyone to keep an open mind on what's going. Alright?"

Some were willing to try, but the rest wanted to be convinced that these changes were beneficial for them, and not something some rich kid was trying.

"Shinji Ikari," Fuma gestured, and Shinji, who was sitting behind the policeman, got up and approached the podium in front of the rest of police.

"I guess I'll ask the obvious question first," he uttered to everyone. "Who in here thinks I'm no better than my old man?"

That question earned a few chuckles from a few men and women, and Shinji nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm sure most of you saw the media posts from other outlets. _'Tokyo deserves better than some arrogant, billionaire super nerd trying to play games with people's safety'_. Well, I can be a bit arrogant. Yes, I am a billionaire. Super nerd? I own up to it to a degree. But they neglected one thing about me. My degree in engineering…and we do have an engineering problem. So, let's do the math."

Behind Shinji, the new screens displayed a detailed mapping of present-day Tokyo, undamaged areas and the areas under reconstruction. Along with a display of numbers and symbols.

"Presently, there are seventy-seven-hundred-thirteen police in Tokyo. Current population of civilians totaling at least eight-hundred-thousand-two-hundred-forty-six. When you ignore factors of unpredictability involved in your job, at any given time in the day, each of you protects and serves more than three-hundred-forty-seven people…ranging from your friends or neighbors to people you never met." Shinji showed them, which wasn't far from the truth. "It seems like an impossible task for you. I'm here to help make it within the realm of possible for you…with this."

He took out his phone and the screens behind him displayed what he had installed in his phone to demonstrate what was meant to aid the police. It was a red background with a dark circle with letters in the center.

"What is that?" A female cop asked.

"The APB app," Shinji explained. "It will enable people to call in real-time, GPS-related crime reports from anywhere in the city, explaining what they saw happened, when they saw or heard it happening. Those three-hundred-forty-seven people you're trying to protect and serve? Now, they can tell you more with their phones and tablets."

He then gestured over to Kensuke, who got up and walked over to two headless and armless mannequins dressed in some sort of outfit that was black and gray.

"Say 'hello' to your new body armor," he told the police. "Ultra-light, ceramic-infused disc body armor. They're capable of stopping a projectile moving at three-hundred miles per hour at close and long range. That's almost fifty times the speed of the average bullet."

First an app…and now new body armor. Some of the police were starting to wonder just what else was going to be new for them to use.

Although Misao was somewhat intrigued by the fact that the armor was stated to be lighter than the original armored vests they had to work with.

"And if the criminals keep coming at you or try to run away," went Kensuke, just as Shinji turned around and picked up something out of a large suitcase, "we've upgraded your side arms to include a new, defensive feature. The next generation in Taser technology."

Shinji held up a gun that looked similar to a Glock, only a little larger and less menacing in a way, with bits of white in the black metal.

 _Taser technology?_ Misao wondered. _I thought only the Americans were into that._

"Taser?" A male cop questioned. "Heh-heh! So the bad guys get toy guns, too?"

Several of the other police laughed, though Shinji could understand their disbelief in such a tool's usefulness, something he was going to show them.

"Not a toy," Shinji told them. "I took the liberty of giving one of my assistants, Haru, a knife. Haru, could try and stab me, please?"

A man in his mid-twenties, with brownish hair and hazel eyes, got up and brandished a pocketknife.

"Give me your cash, kid!" He demanded, and Shinji shot him in the chest.

There was no bullet hole or blood, but the assistant fell back, his chest sporting a small pair of darts on his shirt, most likely the taser dart Shinji used to demonstrate its effectiveness.

"It only lasts between three-five minutes, but it's effective," Shinji explained as Haru still moved on the floor. "Haru, are okay?"

"Super," the assistant responded, groaning from the temporary paralysis. "Short-range works well. What about the long-range feature?"

"Yes, you're all probably wondering if this will work with someone more than ten feet away," Shinji told the police, and one of them, a man, stood up and pointed a revolver at the boy.

"Try me," he told the boy.

Bang. Shinji shot him and he fell down, still moving, but wishing he wasn't feeling any pain.

"Okay, I'm convinced," he groaned. "I want one."

"This is only the start," said Shinji to them. "When you see what else we can do for you, your noses will be bleeding. Probably. Um, any questions, anyone?"

Misao raised her hand to get his attention.

"Yes?"

"Uh, yes… How come you're the only rich person that is doing something like this to obtain justice?" Misao asked him, which had everyone's attention. "You must be aware that even billionaires aren't able to buy justice. I mean, we get anywhere from eight-ten homicides every few months…and there weren't any wealthy individuals that felt any obligation to lend a hand. This would make you the only person that seeks some form of closure for what happened to someone you knew."

Shinji nodded slightly in the positive at her question; he was, as far as he knew the only rich kid to do something of this sort, and this was to obtain justice, but he knew that it couldn't be bought, no matter how much he was willing to pay.

"That is a good question," he responded. "Heavy and fair (he looks over at Kensuke and Hikari, grateful for their presence). Let's be leveled on clarity. Do I want the guy that shot Toji Suzuhara and left him for dead? The answer is yes…but this is much bigger than what happened that night."

Hikari and Kensuke looked at each other before returning their gaze to Shinji.

"This is about everyone that gets hurt by those that break the law…and when the police don't get the resources they need to do their job. I don't expect everything to go right in just one day. I don't even expect to change the whole world. I just want to return law and order to this city that's being rebuilt."

Some of the police, including Misao, couldn't see this kid making a joke with what he said. They couldn't fault him for wanting to do more than what he had done with his resources at his company.

Misao wondered how far he could take this before the pressure got to him.

-x-

"…This is ridiculous," said Gendo to Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko and Misato in his office, going over the media revelation that his son got put in charge of the Tokyo PD. "He's supposed to be here training to pilot the Eva, and instead of that, he's off playing police."

"He did present a reasonable ultimatum to the mayoral committee," went Fuyutsuki, who, despite how much there was disagreement with what Shinji had done, had to applaud the boy for doing what he felt was the right thing. "It is money they don't have to worry about ensuring to the police."

"Yet we're short a pilot due to the declining birth rate that lasted for nearly two years," stated Ritsuko. "The boy's among the rare few that meet our criteria for piloting the Eva."

"How do you propose convincing him to reconsider his decision to keep away from NERV?" Misato asked her. "He's already painted us with a bullseye out of spite."

"Contact the mayoral committee," went Gendo; if these people didn't like his son, then maybe they had a common objective to see that he was dealt with properly.

-x-

So far, it seemed like the police were adjusting to the changes made around the station and getting accustomed to their new equipment. Some were being shown how their new firearms worked, the body cams on their uniforms, and health monitoring system that was built into the vest to register to the individual cop's vitals.

"Oh, good," said Shinji as he walked down a hall to evaluate the scene of police officers setting aside their old uniforms for their new ones. "Yes, yes."

He stopped in front of a room that was being used to hold the cases of additional body cams and saw Misao getting into her vest.

"Uh, excuse me," he spoke to her, and she turned to face him. "Um, Ms. Katsuragi, right?"

She walked over to him and stood two feet in front of him.

"You…you remember me from before, right?" He asked her.

"I do," she answered him. "How may I help you?"

Shinji sighed and uttered the reason he was looking for her.

"I'd like your help in Toji's case," he said.

"Um, were you even in that room when you were speaking?" She questioned.

"Yes, and I do understand what I'm asking you of. But…some just assume that when you're a person like myself, people just tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear…and I need people that won't tell me what I want to hear."

Not only was he smart, but had a lot of morality to want to accept the truth instead of a sugar-coated lie. This made Misao wonder how deep his conviction went with his commitment.

"Okay, but I'm not a detective," she told him.

"I know, I read your file, but you have all the requirements to make detective and then some."

"I understand that you mean well and want to help with all this new technology and everything…but the tech doesn't solve crimes. Cops do."

"True…but you have yet to see New Genesis'. I'll tell you what: Give it a try, see where it goes, and it doesn't work out, I'll back off, but if it does, you'll at least think about it. Deal?"

"You got a deal."

"Thank you. We should all head down to the garage now. They're probably ready by now."

"Who or what?" Misao asked him.

"Your new wheels," he answered.

To be continued…


	4. Test Drive

Creation began on 07-18-17

Creation ended on 10-25-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Test Drive

Flash! The new car came to life as it drove out of the truck, off the ramp and in front of the police in the garage, followed by another car that was of a different make and brand.

"You must be kidding," a female officer said beside Misao, unable to disbelieve their luck at having the latest in the Toyota Prius and Cadillac CTV-S models at their disposal.

"We have twenty of these for now, but we can expect the next forty within a week," said Hikari to them as she walked around them to show them the Prius. "Meet your new cruisers. Each one is able to link back to dispatch and the APB app that Shinji showed you earlier. We can keep in constant communication with you at all times."

"Totally," went a male cop, half-kidding and half-impressed.

"The chassis has been completely replaced with an ultralight-but-dense alloy made by a proprietary of New Genesis'. Pretty much the same alloy you'd see in experimental jets capable of space flight. It can handle anything up to a sixty-five caliber."

"That's greater than a fifty," said Misao, just as Hikari gestured at the amazingness of the Prius beside her. _Not to mention that they're environmentally friendly if they've been retooled by New Genesis._

And suspecting that they were retooled by the company, that meant they were most likely electrical or ran on an alternate fuel source that made the need for gasoline unnecessary.

Misao looked at Shinji, who seemed hopeful that the police would accept their new wheels. She decided that as long as they could keep up with gas-powered cars, she could handle a new set of wheels. And she always had a fancy for both car brands since Ford had become a thing of the past.

-x-

Some people around the maimed city knew that Shinji was at the police station, but none of them had anticipated the police having new cars in their new resources.

A police-themed Cadillac drove out of the garage like a missile with three policemen inside it going west while a police-themed Prius with one policewoman driving east.

"Whoa," went Misao, impressed by the speed of the Prius she was assigned. "Okay, this is tight."

The rest of them drove out and headed around the rebuilt areas of the city, needing to spread the word that the police had a new backer and that law and order was to return.

-x-

"…And we're officially live," said Kensuke to Shinji as they sat in front of the monitors and displays showing the city's geographic grid.

"Nervous, Shinji?" Hikari asked.

"Yes, I am," he answered her.

"This is certainly a lot more pressuring than testing a drone," said Kensuke, making sure that he was on the alert for any hits on the APB app.

So far, nothing of any significance made itself known. But they just got started, so that was normal.

-x-

"I don't believe this," went Ritsuko, using the MAGI to look at the immense transactions fees from the purchases of cars and equipment used to create Taser-based firearms. "He spared no expense on the latest and greatest."

Misato, who was with her in Central Dogma when the faux-blond discovered how Shinji was supplying the Tokyo PD with new gadgets, but her attention was drawn to this APB app that New Genesis developed and was still tinkering with. People needed to fill out their basic information to become a regular user and there was no form for those that would rather be anonymous. There was even a feature that could show where the user was on the number of users, and so far it wasn't getting much traction; only two-hundred-seven people downloaded the app. She decided to give it a try herself; she may have not lived in Tokyo, but she did visit the rebuilding city and her sister, mother and niece that lived there.

"New Genesis' computer software is just as good as the MAGI," she heard Ritsuko say.

"Huh?" She asked her.

"I thought I could use the MAGI to access New Genesis' computer systems to evaluate their finances, but they got good firewalls and cryptic passwords."

"It's not our business to invade the financial information of a company that specializes in machines and is actually a part of the reconstruction program in Tokyo."

-x-

A false alarm from one of the APB app's users left some eyes on Shinji, who seemed not the least bit surprised that it was checked out.

"That was embarrassing, Shinji," Hikari told him.

"Well, some people want to see if the app is legit," he responded; while he himself was disappointed, he wouldn't raise his voice and make a thing out of it. "You can't blame their curiosity."

The false alarm was from a female user that used the app to tell the cops about a man with a knife near her location, only there was no man with a knife, just the girl and her two friends in one of the in-progress areas still being rebuilt.

PING! The computers were alerted to another use of the app, and Shinji saw on the screens that one of the Prius model cruisers responded.

"Kensuke, who's driving TPD-32?" He asked the otaku.

"Misao Katsuragi," he answered, typing in a few commands, and the woman's cruiser icon popped on the screens in the vicinity of where the app user was, alerting the police to an assault.

-x-

Whoever had sent the crime report through the app must've been pretty ballsy, because Misao had received an additional piece of information that was the assailant. It was a guy in his late-twenties, dressed in an orange jacket and black jeans.

"Whoa," she went, seeing the picture pop up on the window, like it was a touchscreen or something. "Okay."

She drove the Prius down the street where the assault took place and saw a few women on the sidewalk pointing further ahead up the street…where the assailant was running. With the location and distance between them, the purple-haired officer sped up after the culprit.

The guy saw the car and ran faster than he had ever run before, desperate to get away. He ran into a parking lot connected to an disused alleyway; the narrow design prevented the Prius from getting him.

Misao knew that the car wouldn't get through the alleyway and drove off.

The guy jumped a fence and ran out the other end of the alley…and into and over the hood of the police-themed Prius, hitting the ground littered with trace amounts of gravel from the demolished buildings and in-progress reconstructed ones.

"Aaurgh!" He groaned, not anticipating the cop's tenacity on chasing him because of some new app, and started to get up.

"Stay on the ground," he heard a woman say to him, disgusted that the police officer was a woman. "I said stay on the ground!"

"Bite me, bitch!" He yelled, throwing two punches at her.

Misao dodged both blows and delivered a knee-kick to his chest, knocking the wind out of him before throwing him onto the ground herself.

"Do you feel that?" She asked him, getting on top of him. "You feel that hard surface on your face that isn't a body? That's the ground."

Slam! She put him the hood of the car and handcuffed him.

"This is TPD-32 responding. Suspect is in custody."

"Good work, officer," Misao heard Shinji's voice as he congratulated her. "Are you impressed with your new wheels?"

She thought about it for a second…and answered, "It's an improvement."

"I won't argue over that."

"Somebody should kidnap that punk!" The culprit uttered, and Misao pulled him up off the hood and put in the back seat of the car.

"Not while I'm here," she told him; she had to admit to herself that if it weren't for the APB app and the speed and maneuverability efficiency of the new wheels, this guy would've gotten away from her.

-x-

One such feature of the app that Misato discovered was a separate folder that displayed certain updates based on the crimes reported through it, and found that a suspect in an assault crime had been apprehended less than ten minutes of the crime that occurred.

"They caught a guy responsible for an assault," she told Ritsuko.

"And that's supposed to mean something?" She asked her.

"It was ten minutes after the crime occurred. Anyone using this app and sending solid information about wherever what's going down is or was going down is seeming to have some impact on the efficiency of the police."

"Until it all goes south, that is."

But Misato began to suspect that the rich boy was going to be trying his best to keep progress going in a straight line.

To be continued…

A/N: Progress is something one can't rush to get the desired results in anything one does. The same applies to writers and readers; the more reviews and PMs one receives that request immediate updates will usually backfire and create standstills that halt progress. So to everyone out there reading this, exert more patience on your part, please.


	5. Conspiracy

Creation began on 10-25-17

Creation ended on 10-26-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Conspiracy

A/N: Some clarity to the situation that doesn't get much headway.

"…You have some nerve making an unsanctioned meeting with us at this time of night after what happened today," the female member of the mayoral committee told Gendo, sitting at a table with her fellow members of said committee in front of the man.

"It's nothing more than a vanity project the boy is working," responded Gendo to them. "Nothing more than the response of a tantrum being thrown by an immature child."

"Well, it seems that your 'immature child' is slowly gaining the trust of the people of Tokyo after the release of his APB app," the mayor said to him.

"Only one apprehension of an assault suspect," Gendo claimed. "Nothing to be remotely proud of."

"Three assault suspects from three different assaults," a second man responded. "Along with an attempted kidnapping, four domestic violence complaints, two cases of animal abuse and a homeless dispute. You call your son running the Tokyo Police Department a vanity project, but that doesn't change the fact that his company has gained more favor from the public than your agency lacks. Is this really his vanity…or just your spite towards him because he openly rejected you…the same way you and your wife's family, with the sole exception of his late grandmother, rejected him?"

"Would it interest you if I were to tell you that he's among the rare few NERV requires for a situation we'll be facing in over a month from now?" Gendo asked them; he didn't want to talk about his failed relationship with Shinji, just what he had in mind that could benefit each of them.

"Hey, we're all aware that he's of the rare number of children born between Two-Thousand and Two-Thousand-Three," said the second female member of the group to him. "only three-hundred-six children born in the aftermath of Second Impact, causing a decline in the global birth rate that didn't resolve itself until Two-Thousand-Four. He's also one of the only two-hundred-seventeen children left alive from that time."

Gendo didn't need any reminders of how invaluable his son was viewed among other children that were fortunate to see their teen years. A dozen or so people that couldn't have children of their own had tried to take some of the children of those that were fortunate enough to have their own, resulting in a series of violent deaths. But he didn't feel any concern towards his son's life; Japan was one of the places ignored most of the time.

"NERV is facing a situation in which it requires children between thirteen-fifteen years of age to face an impending threat to mankind," he explained to them. "I've explained this to the boy when I requested that he come to see me in Tokyo-3, but he refused."

"And what of the rumors that you had to use the police to bring him to see you when he refused to meet with you?" The third man of the group asked him; he paid more attention to the rumors that spread among the gossip groups that ran around Tokyo. "You had sent one of your personnel over to New Genesis Solutions without informing the boy ahead of time and just expected him to drop whatever he was doing to come see you."

"Suppose that he were involved with NERV," Gendo suggested, "that he had no time to run the police? His absence would cause a state of turmoil or unrest. He'd have no choice but give up this cause of his and be made to support those that could deal with the situation involving the police."

"You want your son to work for your agency?" The mayor questioned. "Suppose that we agreed with that, what makes you so certain that he'll comply with your insistence? What makes you so certain that he'll just…do as you say and not as he himself pleases?"

"He only has the Tokyo PD," he responded. "That's just one police faction. He doesn't control any other factions within Japan. Make him do the math and get with the program."

The five members of the mayoral committee thought about and were wondering what seemed likely to happen if they did agree to this: Would Shinji Ikari be stressed out enough to be unable to do as he desired…or would he do the opposite and persist?

"Oh, and I'm sure this has nothing to do with a sense of a vendetta you have against him?" The first female member asked him.

"I have no time to waste on a vendetta," he responded. _I need the boy to pilot the Eva and face the Angels. Otherwise, I won't be able to accomplish my own objective._

To be continued…

A/N: We all know that Gendo will try anything to manipulate Shinji. It would take a miracle to see an alternate universe in which he's not the jackass that he's always portrayed as.


	6. The Usual Suspects

Creation began on 10-27-17

Creation ended on 11-04-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: The Usual Suspects

It was only two days into the Tokyo PD's technological upgrade, but there seemed to be some improvement in the balance between crimes committed and the response time of the police. And it was enough to make Misao consider helping Shinji close the case on who shot Toji Suzuhara at the convenience store that night.

"I spoke with the captain," Shinji told her as they walked into the main room where Shinji had at least three aerial drones on one of the tables, "and he's got three officers working your shifts while you're working this case…until it's either solved or my company goes broke. Heh."

"A handful of police investigated the area the store is in going back since before Second Impact, but people come in and out of it on a regular basis, so there's no way to confirm our culprit even lives there. I've even looked at Toji's case, and I'll be honest, Shinji, it's pretty thin to go upon."

"Yes, but I've been working on it with more information from the store owner. Can't rely on old information all the time. If we did that, we'd become rigid and stale."

"Rethinking all that you do and adapting to the habits of those around you or you're after?"

"Uh, yeah. Anyway, the store owner explained that it was the eighth time his place was attacked within two years since the reconstruction started after the radiation decontamination was declared complete. He also believed that it was probably the same guy every time because of the voice and gun. Now, men usually have voice tones that sound similar enough to make people that hear them assume that anyone that robs them enough time are the same person, but not many who rob often use the same weapon to intimidate. Our culprit uses a revolver. These days, less than three percent of people who carry firearms use this type of weapon in favor of ones that can deliver more firepower in the form of more ammunition. But then, in addition to the mask he was wearing, I read a geographical profiling survey that says that certain criminals operate in areas most familiar to them."

"Yeah, their designated comfort zones."

"We expanded the area of the neighborhood the store is in and searched for any other places that were hit before or after the store going back since the reconstruction program started, including searching for anyone with similar M.O.s, and we found this."

On the tablet he was using to show a geographical version of the neighborhood the crime took place, Shinji and Misao saw the aerial picture of the neighborhood pull back to show more urban land in development for either demolition or reconstruction, displaying at least four other locations that were hit in the past.

"The people of these places all said that the guy that attacked their stores often got away in a small car," Shinji continued. "It's likely that whoever this guy is, they live somewhere close to where these stores and food joints were hit."

"Except lots of people drive the type of car mentioned in the statement," Misao stated; her own mother even bought a Smart Fortwo once out of impulse and still kept it around. "It's a popular brand."

"Yes, I know. My grandmother fancied the one she got when her daughters left home. But if you look at everyone that ever bought a Fortwo, it's just noise and disorder. Filter out the people that haven't owned one for several years, along with those who aren't deceased and have no priors, you get this result: Twenty-three."

"How many of them are men?"

"Seven."

"Okay, come with me to the basement."

Misao walked away from the desk and Shinji, confused, followed her.

"What's in the basement?" He asked her.

"Old records of people I help put behind bars," she answered.

-x-

If Shinji had known there were more to the files of past criminals than what had been put in the digital database, he would've suggested everything that was on paper be put online for the sake of being up to date on everything. Not to the mention the basement was larger than the rooms above it, filled with the old tech and equipment his company had replaced but didn't want to throw out.

"Here they are," he heard Misao say, opening an old cabinet drawer and pulling out seven folders. "Just need to sort the people who best fit the current situation from the ones that wouldn't."

She removed three folders from the pile after just skimming through pictures and old statements.

"Maybe we should look at those a bit more," Shinji suggested, looking at the removed folders. "You never know for sure."

"Trust me, Shinji," she told him, opening the third folder she removed. "Some of these men, I know from my brief encounters with them. This guy here, Wave. Well, after seeing his father die in front of him, he found redemption in prison for his crimes of burglary. He now works as a member of the reconstruction program to rebuild Tokyo's damaged areas. And this man, Lupo (she points to the picture of the guy from the second folder removed)? Well, Lupo moved to Osaka after he was shot in the right leg and died three months later. Found some money on the street and gave it to charity."

"I want to believe that everyone who does wrong can change for the better."

"Not everyone can change…unless they truly want to. These three guys here (she holds up the remaining three folders after removing a fourth)…are who we need to check out. Most often the ones with petty crimes will decide to move up in their game."

"The usual suspects. Okay, Katsuragi. Let's go find them and see who did it."

To be continued…


	7. Live Glitch

Creation began on 11-04-17

Creation ended on 05-26-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Live Glitch

A/N: I really don't know how many of you think this, but you need to stop assuming. This story is not and will never be a crossover with/or an inspiration from Marvel Studios' _Iron Man_. Shinji isn't Tony Stark, and he will not be building a suit of armor. This is strictly inspired by the canceled Fox series _APB_ , with Shinji being a billionaire child genius engineer touched by a tragic attack on one of his friends and funds the underfunded and understaffed police force to do better in making the rebuilding of Tokyo a better place to live in.

One police-themed Cadillac and two Priuses stopped up the street from an undamaged building and out came Misao, Motoko and their fellow rookie officer, Yaguchi.

"So, who's this guy we're suspecting of the store robbery that left the rich boy's friend almost dead?" Yaguchi asked Misao.

"Anno Saotomi," she answered. "Priors for assault and attempted assault."

"That's a stretch to attempted murder."

"We won't know for sure until we check his alibi," said Motoko to him.

"I'm just saying that it's unlikely that he'll be the guy we're after. It doesn't matter how good that Ikari boy thinks his computers are."

"I hope you know that he can hear you through our new body cams."

"I take no offense to Mr. Yaguchi's comment," they heard Shinji's voice. "This is part of the trial and error of progress."

"Well, at least you're not yelling for us to get results," said Motoko to the boy that was funding their new resources.

"If I did that, I'd be wanting too much and offering too little."

As they walked up the front steps to the door, Misao rang the doorbell.

"Anno Saotomi," she called out, "this is the police. We need to talk to you."

Bash! Yaguchi rapped his left arm against the front gate.

"Saotomi! Don't make this difficult for yourself!" He shouted.

Thud. They heard something around the building.

Misao looked around the left side of the building and saw a man running away and a curtain hanging outside in the air.

"Suspect is fleeing!" She gasped, chasing after the guy. "Suspect is fleeing! We're in pursuit!"

Motoko and Yaguchi followed behind her.

"If he's running from us, then can we assume that he's the guy we're after for the robberies and attempted murder?" Yaguchi asked as they pursued Saotomi into an alley…where they lost him. "Base, we lost the suspect."

Whoosh! Something went by behind Misao and Motoko, and they barely saw it.

"What was that?" Motoko wondered aloud.

This got Misao wondering herself.

"Shinji, was that you?" She asked the boy.

"Yeah," he answered. "I had one of my drones in the air."

"You gotta be kidding me," Motoko muttered. "Any sign of Saotomi on your end?"

"He's heading eastwards. A partially-demolished building with a brick exterior."

They found the drone outside the targeted building and entered through a large hole in the wall.

-x-

"There's an opening right there," Hikari told Shinji, pointing to a broken window big enough for the drone to get through.

"Thanks," he responded, maneuvering the drone to fly into the building, flying over a flight of steps, just in time to see the suspect run up them and into a dark hall. "Damn, no night vision."

The drone turned and saw Misao and the others.

"He went upstairs and down that hall. Be careful." Shinji informed her, and she nodded.

Motoko went up the steps and thought he saw Saotomi inside one of the abandoned rooms nearby. He went to check, but it was too dark to see, so he turned on the light under his gun, illuminating some of the room. It was empty, so he checked the next room.

A person ran out before he could check, though. It was Saotomi, so he opened fire on him; since it was a taser, Motoko wouldn't be able to kill him, just stun him.

Saotomi turned around and fired back; he wasn't even trying to kill the cop, just wanting to get away. If he injured one of them, that'd slow them down enough to make his escape.

"Aaaurgh!" A yell was heard, followed by a thud.

Gasp! Hikari shuddered, covering her mouth as Motoko fell to the ground.

On his body cam, Misao appeared and through hers revealed that he had been shot in the left area of his shoulder that wasn't protected by the body armor so as to not hinder his mobility.

"Go! Go! I got him!" She told Yaguchi, who continued to pursue Saotomi. "Calling dispatch! We need an ambulance! We have an officer down. GSW to the shoulder, possibly near his heart. Stay with me, Motoko! Stay with me!"

Shinji pressed a button on his drone's remote to signal the Tokyo Memorial Hospital that an officer-involved shooting had occurred and to prepare for their arrival when they got to their location. But even that didn't stop his heart from beating over the panic he was feeling. He didn't take into account that a random shot at the shoulder could cause an injury, despite taking precautions to ensure that the police would be protected.

"Shinji, are you there?" Misao had asked, but he didn't respond.

How could he? He was frozen with fear, reminded of what happened that night Toji was hurt. An error was made…and a glitch was discovered. A live glitch. He was the glitch!

To be continued…

A/N: For the umpteenth time in case I didn't mention it hard enough earlier, there is no _Iron Man_ themes here, even if you think there is. If you have to think of Shinji as Tony Stark, then he's Tony Stark, just no suit of armor. His real power is his engineering skills, resources and wealth.


	8. Stress

Creation began on 05-26-18

Creation ended on 05-27-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Stress

Officer Motoko Pansa would be alright, but because the bullet was found close enough to one of his heart's arteries, he would be on bed rest for a few days. But that didn't change the fact that some people that were upset with the fact that a fourteen-year-old boy that dropped over one-hundred-million to improve the police force and tried to make the situation worse than necessary.

"You wanted to see me?" Hikari asked Genki Kaba, who had just gotten off the phone with someone.

"Yeah," he answered back. "It's ugly out there. Apparently, your boss' father and the mayoral committee have caused some other people to insist that he's unfit to handle running the police here. There's been two requests for transfers and random complaints."

"Understood."

"The transfer requests were from rookie cops that heard of Officer Pansa getting shot. Maybe the body armor should be extended past the shoulders."

"I'll be sure to let Shinji know that you suggested that. Wait a minute, if there are people upset with Shinji because Officer Pansa was injured, why suggest something that might not get done if two cops want to transfer?"

"I'll be honest, despite your boss' first error, however minor it was, I feel he's the best thing to have ever happened here in years. He did what his old man wouldn't, and he was motivated by a near-tragedy."

"Thank you," Hikari accepted and left to find Shinji, who was reclusive right now after the hospital reported their surgical outcome.

"Knowing Shinji, whenever something goes wrong, he does what he knows best," went Kensuke as he was with her heading downstairs in the police HQ to the mobile lab New Genesis had in the garage. "He's probably tinkering with devices to figure out what went wrong."

"It was just one glitch," Hikari told him. "It's not the end of the world."

"I don't know how Shinji feels about it, but he'd do anything to make amends."

-x-

Tinkering was something Shinji dabbled in from time to time whenever something went wrong. It was his coping mechanism, and the current object being tinkered with was the police drone he used to aid Misao and the others. The error was comprised of several screw-ups that he didn't anticipate when they went after the suspect, whom they now had to consider was the one behind Toji's attempted murder, and the smallest screw-up was the lack of assistance from the drone. He put a screwdriver into a projectile feature he was trying to install within the drone and activated the system.

ZAP! The screwdriver was sent flying to the floor and Shinji nursing his numbed fingers on his left hand; the voltage was too high.

"Aah! Ow! Kami!" He groaned as feeling started to return.

"Hey, Shinji," he heard Kensuke's voice behind him as he turned to see the otaku and Hikari.

"Hi," he greeted them. "How may I help you?"

"You probably heard by now, but a few of the police here…" Hikari spoke, but Shinji raised his right hand in front of them.

"I know," he cut her off. "They want me gone. I got that when someone left a message on my scooter."

"What are you doing to the drone?" Kensuke asked him, noticing some features that weren't part of the original design.

"Trying to modify it a bit," he explained. "I gave it night vision and infrared tracking, raised the audio on the loudspeaker, and now I'm trying to install a Taser unit."

Hikari looked at the Taser system and sighed.

"Three shots, Shinji," she informed him. "More than three will unbalance it in flight, throwing off its aerial gyroscopes and stability. The drone aside, you should go home, get some rest."

"Hikari, I… Go home? Motoko Pansa shouldn't have gone into the building until the drone had first. I didn't account for using it indoors or in enclosed spaces…or even in complete darkness. If I had, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten shot and he'd be at home with his family, not in the hospital, right?"

"We don't know for sure," stated Kensuke, seeing where Shinji was going with this, "but even if we did, you know that…none of this will undo what happened that night."

Shinji made a fist with his left hand…and opened it again.

"I know," he told them. "There's no technology in development for time travel. I just hate feeling that I messed up big this time and am trying to make sense of this."

"Toji doesn't blame you for what happened that night," Hikari reminded him, "and neither does his sister or parents. And the hospitals across the country have improved since we sent them better tech, they've been getting good reviews, and we just don't want you to feel burned out over this."

"The only things that burned me out were my relatives and offensive invasive use of nanotechnology."

"Shinji Ikari?" A male police officer behind the three uttered, and they saw he was accompanied by two other police officers, each with a stern look. "We need to ask you to come with us. Quietly."

Hikari and Kensuke were suspicious of why they needed Shinji to come with them.

"Not without one of us, he isn't going with you," Kensuke defended; after what happened last time, an example needed to be made that their boss and best friend needed to be with them for his safety rather than be alone in the face of adversity.

"Yeah, what he said," Shinji agreed with him.

"Fine," another of them accepted, and Shinji left with Kensuke, leaving Hikari alone in the mobile lab.

-x-

A nightly ride was anything but relieving for Shinji as the police cruiser escorted him and Kensuke to a developed pier by the bay area of the city.

"Oh, you know, the silence and intimidation makes for an illin' ride," he stated as the car stopped. "What's the reason for being out here?"

The police got out of the car and had them get out, just in time for Shinji to see the last person he expected to see after he got approval to upgrade the Tokyo PD.

Gendo, along with the mayoral committee that had to approve of the change, looked at the boy and his friend with some scorn.

"Heh," Shinji sneered, more so at his father than the committee for being with him. "I guess I know what this is about. You're upset that I've been ignoring your calls. I'm sure as you're aware, I've been rather busy."

"It came to our attention that you had some trouble earlier," Gendo responded. "Your arrogance and carelessness caused an incident."

"Oh, and, what, you thought you'd violate my civil liberties to, what, gloat? What, exactly, did you have me come out here with one of my friends for? Was it really to say what you could've left in a text or instant message…or did you plan to have me executed out of our mutual spite towards one another? Oh, yes, I'm sure our spitefulness towards one another is more than mutual. Or did you want us to enjoy a view of a city in progress?"

"Walk away, boy," his father instructed him. "Give this all up, make an official statement about the challenges of working alongside the police force…and express your support of their mayoral administration while at the same time joining NERV."

Kensuke looked over at the committee, who seemed to be in cahoots with Gendo, and gave a slight frown over how it seemed like the list of people against Shinji increased by a significant degree.

"How about we just skip it all and you tell me what will happen if I choose to refuse you again and do absolutely none of that B.S. you just spat out in front of me?" Shinji suggested, because he really didn't want to do anything for his old man, let alone a bunch of people that seemed to be conspiring with him against himself.

Gendo took two steps forward and removed his glasses, looking his son dead in the eyes.

"Then we will come after you with everything we have," he revealed his intentions. "You only have one police faction and one company. They have access to the rest of the police agencies across the nation…and I have a paramilitary agency. Do the math…and don't disappoint."

He then turned to leave…but Shinji stopped him.

"One is better than none, old man," he expressed. "If you want me to join NERV…you'll have to break me…and I'd rather rot away than do as you say."

 _Yeah, Shinji, you tell him,_ Kensuke thought, supporting his decision, even if it was a stressed response to a threat made against by his father.

If Gendo felt crossed, he didn't express it, but the committee seemed offended by Shinji's refusal to bend for them.

"You are such a disappointment," he then expressed.

"I wonder which parent I get it from," Shinji responded, and Gendo left them.

Shinji then turned away and walked past the police car with Kensuke following close behind.

"You got a pair of balls on you, Shinji, man," he told him. "I just hope you can keep this up."

"Me, too, Kensuke," he responded. "Me, too."

To be continued…

A/N: People react differently when stressed out, and this incarnation of Shinji is trying to refrain from doing what his father tells him. And it's finally out there: Shinji and Gendo's hatred towards one another is very mutual.


	9. Interlude Asuka

Creation began on 06-15-18

Creation ended on 06-16-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Interlude Asuka

A/N: Here's what our sole redhead has to think about Shinji owning his own company and innovating the Tokyo Police Department.

"WHAT?!" A young woman with long, red hair and blue eyes yelled at a man with an unshaven face in response to a discovery he informed her of. "You're saying this boy got selected to pilot an Evangelion?! Him, of all people?!"

"Yes, but unfortunately," the unshaven man, Ryoji Kaji, explained, "he's been rather…unwilling to actually join NERV. He…has issues with the commander."

"What kinda issues keep someone from accepting that they need to help protect the world from the threat of the Angels?"

"The lack of a stable relationship with their father and the unease of being pressured to join NERV when they refuse."

"The commander's his father? He should get with the program and pilot the Eva."

"Easier said than done, Asuka. There's also the question of how he can run his company if he's so busy with piloting the Eva?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Asuka, Shinji Ikari isn't just the designated Third Child, he's also the owner of the tech company New Genesis Solutions. He built that company from the ground up a few years ago after he ended up in the care of his maternal grandmother."

"New Genesis Solutions? You mean, him?! How the Holle does he get his own company to run?!"

"An advanced degree in technological engineering and a talent for tinkering with machines. He's been part of the revolutionary game of technology to modify the use and function of drones, cellular phones, computers, even nanotechnology. Recently, he experienced an attack on one of three friends that work part-time at his company, and as a result of the trauma, along with the death of his grandmother and spite towards his father and disinterest in NERV, he purchased the Tokyo PD and innovated it with new gadgets and supplied every medical treatment facility across the nation with new equipment."

"Why would he do any of that? It's not going to change his situation any bit."

"People react to traumatic experiences differently from others, Asuka. And he just made a choice that was based on the fact that one of his friends was almost killed in front of him and the hospital he was admitted to, along with the police station Shinji went to give his statement at, were poorly staffed and equipped to deal with their respective situations due to NERV being funded heavily."

"If it's to ensure that the world is safe later, then people have to adjust."

"It's not that simple, Asuka. People can't survive simply on the Eva alone. Even the survivors need financial, technical and medical resources."

"So, he's trying to help the people by supplying them with police and medical technology."

"Among other things, I hear. New Genesis Solutions is said to be into many fields, all technological. Though, a report revealed that, when asked, Shinji flat-out rejected the idea of any form of bio-engineering being implemented at New Genesis. Most believe it's because he doesn't want to cross the line between the technological and the biological and be labeled a mad scientist. Some people believe it may have something to do with the way his mother died."

Asuka decided to look up New Genesis Solutions and its young founder, Shinji Ikari, and why this Commander Ikari was going to extremes to recruit him.

"Just how big is this New Genesis Solutions?" She asked Kaji, curious about the kid's company.

"Last I checked, it was worth at least one-hundred-twenty-eight-billion in United States currency," he answered her. "However, that number could increase later on. It has been making increased strides in medical technology and distributing new equipment across the country and intends to do the same with the US and China. In a sense, New Genesis Solutions has achieved some measure of acceptance from the public that exceeds that of NERV."

 _That's crazy. It doesn't even have the technology necessary to fight the Angels._

Unfortunately, Asuka had her own opinion about both the company and its founder. Not only was the name quite unusual, but the fact that it was owned by a teen that was on the list of capable people needed to pilot the Eva made for an inadequate mix and drew too much time away from what was necessary and crucial.

"NERV shouldn't bother if the brat is unwilling to join," she expressed.

"True, but Commander Ikari refuses to let sleeping dogs lie," Kaji explained.

To be continued…

A/N: Well, now we know what our resident redhead thinks and feels.


	10. Clarity

Creation began on 08-17-18

Creation ended on 08-17-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Clarity

A/N: Everyone reading this story needs to understand something.

This needs to be expressed because some of the people are clearly confused and not getting it. This story is inspired by the Fox series that only lasted one season, _APB_. It is not, no matter how much you want for it to be, inspired by _Iron Man_. If it was, then Shinji would be in a cave somewhere with an injured heart, building a suit of powered armor to escape and get home. He wouldn't have gone to a convenience store with Toji when it was robbed and his friend shot and left for dead.

What's more, Shinji can't be like Tony Stark in this story because he isn't a womanizer or a drinker and not having a military contract to build weapons to amass wealth, even though he could. And there are no other Marvel influences here!

Get the picture now?


	11. Waste of Time and Resources

Creation began on 09-08-18

Creation ended on 09-08-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Waste of Time and Resources

A/N: I believe in payback more than I believe in karma, and this is to all you out there that just won't quit with your petty wish for what isn't, hasn't been, and won't be with this story.

 _One Year Ago_

With the success of a new experimental robot that was meant to aid in the military's EOD divisions, Shinji slumped in the chair in his office at New Genesis Solutions. He reached over for his iPhone to call his grandmother when said phone started ringing with the name and number of the very woman he intended to call.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Hey, there, Shinji?" His grandmother's voice responded. "I just heard on the news that you built a military robot for the EOD. I'm proud of your accomplishment."

"Thank you, Grandma. How have you been?"

"I had another rash on my back. You may have to invent a cream solution that fights rashes."

"Yeah, that would be more beneficial than what some people think I should try to build, which is a powered suit of armor like they did in the Marvel comics and films."

"You couldn't actually build something like that…could you, Shinji?"

Shinji thought about it for a moment and answered, "No, and for these good reasons. One: It's just a waste of both time and resources. Two: It wouldn't benefit anyone but the person wearing it, either for personal protection or pleasure. Three: Such things belong only in the realm of make-believe and have no business being attempted in real life. Four: I am not Tony Stark or his Iron Man alter ego. And five: I don't build weapons or anything that could be used as weapons, and I don't even want anyone trying to compare me to one who does."

"You'd rather be aiding in the rebuilding and gentrifying effort of Tokyo, wouldn't you?" She asked him, which put a smile on his face.

"Yeah," he answered her. "That's something I'd waste time and resources on because that's something worth doing. Clearing the debris…building apartment buildings to house the people that either lived there or were planning to relocate there to aid in the reclamation efforts…and helping people to show their resilience and ability to overcome despair, except I am helping in the efforts to rebuild Tokyo. Nothing is more important than rebuilding a megacity one block at a time in this world."

"Again, I am proud of you, Shinji."

"Thank you."

When they said all that they needed to say to each other for the day (and his promise to see her the next day), Shinji hung up and sighed at the ridiculousness of the very notion.

"Build a suit of powered armor?" He questioned. "No chance in Hell. I don't care what anyone else thinks. That's just a waste of our time and resources. They want superhero suits? They can go watch the movies with them. They want suits that shoot rockets and lasers and can fly? Go play videogames. They want to be superheroes? Read the comic books. I got better things to do than to build powered armor and fly around pretending to be a hero."

To be continued…

A/N: There, I feel better now. If this doesn't shut you people up about where this story's going, then my suggestion to you is read gunman's _Iron Man_ work, because in this story, it's not going to happen. You understand? No Iron Man, no suit of armor, no hole in chest where a reactor in put in to stop shrapnel from penetrating the heart, nothing! You don't like it, then don't read it!


	12. Reconciliation

Creation began on 05-27-18

Creation ended on 09-21-18

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB: Reconciliation

Regular phones ringing and keyboards being tapped on were basic sounds that were common in any police station. Not that it made much difference to Shinji, as he sat in one of the office rooms trying to process the fact that he got singled out by his father and the committee.

Knock, knock, knock. He looked up from under his hands and at the open door to the room, seeing Toji and Misao there.

"Hey, man," Toji greeted him.

"Hi, Toji," he responded.

Misao looked around and noticed a small pillow on the sofa beside Shinji and got curious.

"Uh, did you sleep here?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I was trying to work on something with the drone. I figured I'd try to… Somehow make sense of this to make things right…somehow."

"Misao here told me about yesterday…and the day before," Toji explained as he placed his crutches aside to sit in a nearby chair. "Some of the people, mostly out there than in here, are blaming you for what happened, which is far from the truth."

"And I was suspecting that the majority of the police force blames me for what happened."

"Do you teens even know who the police force really is?" Misao asks them, and both were stumped. "We're either a bunch of men and women that are confused, screwed-up or worry every morning as they come to work and try to estimate whether or not this is the day they'll get shot at or worse. We all have our flaws, our hindrances. We're not some engineering problem anyone, not even you, Shinji, can just fix to run smoothly. It's impossible. And my friend, Motoko, he knew there would be risks in chasing the suspect…and he knows there will always be risks in going after anyone. But he actually believes the body armor kept the worst from happening to him…and he's sure that it'll continue to do so when he gets out of the hospital."

Shinji nodded his head in acceptance and sighed.

"My father and the mayoral committee dragged me out last night for an unsanctioned meeting about me," he revealed to them. "They want to shut me down and make me join NERV."

"Your old man doesn't know when to give up," Toji stated. "It's like he'll stop at nothing to get you to join his agency."

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen."

"Well, you're not shut down yet, Shinji Ikari," Misao told him. "I'll be honest. A while back, I thought you were just another one of these reformers that couldn't take the heat. But now, I think you can handle it because you got your friends behind you. And I think the best shot we have of catching Anno Saotomi…who we now have reason to suspect is the guy that shot Toji here…is the APB app."

"What do you think, Shinji?" Toji asked him. "The app is your best work in-progress so far."

"We're trying to find the guy," Shinji explained. "Hikari and Kensuke sent his mug shot and information out to every user in the city, but we haven't gotten any responses from the people. If it's because they're scared, I can understand that."

"It may be because you're trying to find him with help from the wrong people," Misao suggested.

"What do you mean?" Shinji and Toji questioned.

"Whenever we're after a drug dealer or a kidnapper, we don't get our information by talking to regular people most of the time. In the police world, we have access to a network of confidential informants."

"Go on," Shinji expressed, wanting to know more.

-x-

The police were out on the street, heading to particular spots in the older neighborhoods, near buildings, tracking down individuals that knew better than to run from them because they were the eyes and ears of the underworld that were overlooked.

"It's just like what Misao said," went Toji as he, Shinji, Hikari and Kensuke sat in front of the screens at the station.

"What do you mean?" Kensuke asked him.

"We're taking a step back and letting the police do what they do to catch a bad guy," Shinji stated. "We observe and let them obtain information, which they get from their contacts."

" _If you want the information necessary to catch criminals,"_ Misao had informed them, _"then you need other criminals that use the app. We'll get out there and get their help, see if they know anything about the guy that shot Toji and Motoko. And when we catch him, we're gonna know who had our backs…and who didn't in this city being rebuilt. That's how it works in this maimed version of Tokyo we're trying to save by being part of the police force. Your tech is good, Shinji Ikari, but you have to let us do their job first, and we're good at it."_

"I've run the regression analysis on any sightings of Anno Saotomi within the past twenty-four hours," Hikari informed Shinji, "and this is the end result of the attempt."

On the large screens were reddish pop-ups full of information.

"There are people responding to possible sightings, thinking they've seen him, but it's mostly just garbage Intel," she continued. "Mostly just shadows."

"An increase in patrol could tell us more, for sure," went Genki, "but we don't have enough personnel to do so."

Shinji looked at his tablet that displayed the same information on the screens, and saw something he didn't notice before.

"Hikari, Kensuke, pull away everything that fits in random distributions," he instructed. "The updates where people claim to have seen him in different places at the same time would be the garbage information…but the real sightings would be in tighter clusters."

Kensuke typed in the filtering algorithm to remove the random garbage information going back eight hours ago.

"Nothing from eight hours ago," Hikari informed them, and then filtered the sightings by down to three hours ago. "Wait, there were at least eight sightings of him from three hours ago."

The eight sightings that were solid had Anno Saotomi seen somewhere around the damaged ward of Chiyoda. When Kensuke filtered it down to two hours, there were ten sightings in the Chuo Ward…and at least five sightings from an hour ago in the Koto Ward.

"He's moving," Toji uttered. "He's gotta be heading towards the Edogawa Ward, probably to get out of Dodge now that he knows the heat is on."

"Only one way to know for sure, and that's to confirm the heading," Shinji responded.

PING! An alert from the APB app made itself known.

"What is it?" Genki asked Hikari as she checked it.

"People yelling," she answered, "and what sounded like gunfire. Getting the location now… It's in the Edogawa Ward's southeastern district, near the dockyards."

"Now, we know where we need to be," Shinji expressed. "Do you have this, Katsuragi?"

"We're heading there right now," went Misao in response to the question. "Ever since the devastation, it takes forever for any boat to come and go from any of the six wards near the water."

"That's assuming that he's trying to leave by boat, but we'll check the schedules."

To be continued…

A/N: Until further notice, this story will be based entirely off the first episode of _APB_. Any future reviews relating to any suggestion or hint of _Iron Man_ will be removed due to biased assumptions that aren't tolerated. There will probably be two more chapters after this, which I'll be moving onto other fictional ambitions. Peace.


End file.
